Since Chelsea completed the signings of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia last week, for a combined total of £173million, the club’s focus in the transfer market has been quite clear.
Getting a new goalkeeper in and adding another attacking talent to their ranks. The former looks to be all but done, fortunately for the Blues.
Djordje Petrovic of New England Revolution is on his way to Stamford Bridge after Chelsea agreed upon a £14million (£12.5million plus £1.5million in add-ons) deal with the MLS outfit. Petrovic is set to undergo his medical with the Blues very soon and a move should be all done by the time Chelsea welcome League Two side AFC Wimbledon to west London next week in the second round of the Carabao Cup.
So the club’s attention has naturally turned to an attacking option – someone versatile that can play both on the right wing and operate in the centre in the No.10 role. A few options have been identified for a possible move in the final week of the summer transfer window.
Chelsea held talks with Rayan Cherki and his representatives last month, soccerhuz.com understands, but nothing has advanced with the Frenchman since the initial dialogue. It could be one to keep an eye on but right now it looks as if Chelsea have their attention on other targets.
One of those being Bradley Barcola from the same club, Lyon. The 20-year-old is viewed as one of the most exciting talents in his position – right wing – in world football right now. Paris Saint-Germain, however, are also interested in Barcola and have held talks with Lyon over a move for the winger.
“We need at least one keeper,” Mauricio Pochettino told reporters on Thursday. “We have very talented young keepers but they need time.
“We need more and then we were talking about one offensive player, the right profile. If we can add the right profile, yes, but not to bring players so we can add one more. We don’t want to stop the evolution of some young guys, [Armando] Broja, [Christopher] Nkunku.
“Working hard but not to take a decision because we need someone. These two areas we maybe need some players.”
Pochettino was essentially implying that the club will act in the market between now and September 1 but only if the ideal option is available. Chelsea will not be rushed into buying someone just for the sake of it if they do not fit the profile wanted or the ideology of the club.
This evening’s (Friday’s) match against Luton Town could have a big say on the club’s plans between now and the window’s closure. With Christopher Nkunku and Carney Chukwuemeka both ruled out through respective knee injuries, the Blues are rather short of attacking options – for those to play behind what we assume will be Nicolas Jackson.
Noni Madueke is in contention to make his first start under Pochettino after coming on in the second-half at West Ham United at the weekend. The 21-year-old winger, who was brought in for £30million from PSV Eindhoven in the January transfer window, showed glimpses of his enormous talent and technical ability in the second half of last term but struggled to cement a spot down on that right-hand side.
When Madueke squares a defender up in a one-versus-one situation, he is practically unstoppable. He is one of those players where the defender knows what he is going to do; cut in on his favoured left foot, but the prior knowledge renders useless because of his sheer speed and his tricky dribbling.
Against West Ham, however, Chelsea were almost playing two right wingers at times. Raheem Sterling was often on the right flank and stayed there even when Madueke came on in the second period. This sometimes forced the England Under-21 international to drift into the middle, where he was unable to hurt the Hammers.
There were, though, a few instances where Madueke collected the ball on the right and was able to show his trickery in one-on-one situations. He was terribly unfortunate not to find the back of the net from an effort where he cut in, only for it to be deflected and then turned behind by goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
If he is to feature against Luton, Chelsea need to get the ball to him as often as possible on the right because when he isolates a full-back, there is very little anyone can do about that. His end product of course needs improving but for raw talent, it is quite scary what he can offer.
There is all of this talk about a new right winger coming in, but Madueke seems to be forgotten sometimes. Chelsea do need depth on the wing, especially because of injuries, but whoever it is who comes in does not necessarily need to halt the development of one of England’s finest young talents.
